Sunday, October 2, 2011

Pythons have probably my favorite skull of any animal. The reticulated python has a jaw that is in four movable parts, and the lower two can swing open over 120 degrees. Here are the main parts of a reticulated python skull:

Via SkullsUnlimited.com

Four, independently moving jaw bones, in case you thought Predator or the Covenant were original: Mother Nature has had them beat for a while! –And look at the angle of those teeth: nothing that goes into that mouth is ever coming out!Here’s a video of a guy getting bitten and his friends have to push the skull forward very hard, then open the mouth, and then pull it away. With these four independent jaw parts, they have the ability to really get their mouths around prey that is much larger than their bodies, like this African antelope:

I marked the mouth in red above

As if four independently moving jaw parts wasn’t cool enough: they have a second row of teeth! These are situated on the roof of their mouth, yes, you read that right, reticulated pythons have palatine teeth, circled below:

This is a central row of teeth behind the maxillary teeth on the upper jaw! Here are some better pics to make it harder for you to get to sleep at night:

Here’s a link to a 3d Burmese Python skull 360 render (roll) from the DigiMorph website.